MIAMI - The last time Dwyane Wade played in an NBA Finals game, he needed fluid drained from his left knee and eight hours of intense game-day therapy just to get into uniform. The Miami Heat guard later described it in a single word. "Hell," Wade said. It was also worth it, after he scored 23 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and hoisted his third Larry OBrien Trophy. Now, unlike last year, Wade is not dealing with any injuries heading into the Miamis finals rematch against the San Antonio Spurs. At 32 years old and with 866 NBA games already on his playing odometer, Wade still deals with plenty of aches and pains, good days and bad days, and basically has a standing appointment in the Heat training room. But compared to last seasons NBA Finals, his knees are good as new. "Hes a big-time, huge piece to our puzzle," four-time NBA MVP and Heat star LeBron James said. "To have him out there in the groove that hes in right now, its going to help us." The Heat are looking to win their third straight title and Wade is on the cusp of joining a list of all-time NBA greats. There are just seven players with four championships and at least one NBA Finals MVP award on their resumes: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, John Havlicek, Magic Johnson, Shaquille ONeal, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan and the Spurs Tim Duncan. Wade could be the eighth person in that club. "We just want to continue to add to what were accomplishing," Wade said. Almost forgotten amid all the memories of Wade limping about during last years playoffs — he whacked what was his "good" knee at this time last year, the surgically repaired left one, in a collision with the Spurs Manu Ginobili during Game 6 of the finals — is he had big games when Miami needed him. Through his first 14 games of the 2013 playoffs, Wade was averaging 13.6 points. In the final eight games of that post-season run, starting with Game 7 against Indiana, he averaged 19.8 points. And in the last four games of the finals, he averaged 23.5 points against the Spurs to close the series. As his knees got worse, Wade seemed to get better. "He still found a way last year," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "He really did. He had some of his biggest games not only in the finals, but Game 7, we didnt think necessarily he was going to even play that game in the Eastern Conference finals." This year, the Heat tried to leave nothing to chance with Wades health. The so-called maintenance plan for Wade — limiting his minutes to save his knees — kicked in on the second night of the regular season. He wound up missing 28 games in all, mostly because of that rest-and-rehab scheme, to ensure that he would be good to go in the playoffs. The results cant be argued. Wade is averaging 18.7 points on 52 per cent shooting, Miami is 12-3 in the playoffs and when getting more than three days rest — like the Heat will have before Game 1 in San Antonio on Thursday night — the perennial All-Star has had games of 23, 14, 27 and 23 points on a combined 60 per cent shooting. "Dwyane is playing great," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said Tuesday. "He looks a lot more spry and ready to go then he did last year in the finals." Maybe the biggest payoff of the regular-season maintenance plan has been how Wade has closed games in this post-season. Wade is shooting 56 per cent in fourth quarters during the playoffs, the best clip of his career and the best percentage of any guard with more than 30 shots in the final period of post-season games this season. San Antonios Danny Green is second on that list, shooting just under 49 per cent. Wade doesnt like talking about his place in history. But he knows what rarefied air he would be entering with a fourth title run. "I think weve all put ourselves in great situations, and were just going to continue to try to enjoy this moment that were in because its an amazing moment," Wade said. "Its something that, for a lifetime, is going to fulfil us as athletes. Even when we cant play this game, were going to always be able to talk about this." And now, when talking about his health, Wade has another one-word answer: "Better." Air Max 2018 Sale . Lawrie was hit on the hand by Cincinnati pitcher Johnny Cueto in the second inning of Sundays 4-3 loss to the Reds. Orange Air Max 2018 . "We cannot stay the same way the whole season long," said Reyes. "This is not acceptable. Something needs to change because were a better team than what were showing right now. Its a long season and we just need to continue to push." Its been a frustrating week for the ballclub. http://www.cheapairmaxonlinesale.com/. It has been eleven years, eight months, and 261 days since I played my last CFL game. Wholesale Air Max 2018 . -- So much for concern that running back Marshawn Lynch would be absent from the Seattle Seahawks minicamp. Cheap Air Max 2018 . -- Atlanta Braves pitcher Tommy Hanson is being checked for a possible concussion after blowing a tire on his way to the first workout of spring training.Tampa Bay Lightning 4 Winnipeg Jets 2 (Jets 19-22-4, Home 10-9-1) – The loss snapped the Jets three game home winning streak and extended their losing streak to four after the 0-3 road trip. Its the first time this season they have dropped four straight regulation games. There wasnt a lot of offensive flow to Tuesdays game with the Lightning outshooting the Jets 5-2 in the first with Valtteri Filppula opening the scoring 1:20 in. The Jets capitalized on a 5-on-3 power play to tie the game 1-1. Olli Jokinen converted a Mark Scheifele pass, Jokinens 11th on the year and first power play goal of the season. For Scheifele it was his 13th point in the last 14 games. Scheifele, who had five points in his first 24 games, now has 18 in his last 22 games. Dustin Byfuglien also had an assist on the goal. There was a little more action in the second with the shots 12-7 in favour of the Lightning, with each team scoring a goal. The Jets took a 2-1 lead on a power play goal by Byfuglien, assists to Blake Wheeler and Ondrej Pavelec. Byfuglien now has 12 points, including four goals, in his last 13 games. Ondrej Palat tied the game at 15:37 on an odd man rush. The third period was all Tampa. They outshot the Jets 16-5, outscored them 2-0 and watched as the Jets frustration level boiled over. Pavelec was the only reason this game stayed close as the final shots were 33-14. Marty St. Louis on a power play made it a 3-2 game, St. Louis then added an empty net goal to put the game away. In the final 15 minutes of the third the Jets took five minor penalties and a fighting major. On the empty nnet goal Zach Bogosian lost his footing and went hard into the back boards, and headed straight for the dressing room with an upper body injury.dddddddddddd There was no post game update on his condition. The Jet had only 14 shots, their lowest total this season. Scheifele played a season high 20:56, while Devin Setoguchi saw his ice time drop to a season low 5:35. Setoguchi has not scored in 17 games. Bryan Little has now gone 11 games without a goal. Playing seven games in 12 days seems to have taken a toll on the Jets as there was not a lot of jump to their game. Bogosian and Eric Tangradi each had three shots on goal. The power play connected twice, after going zero for 13 over the last six games. From players to coach Claude Noel, the frustration was evident in the post-game interviews. “The game was poorly played, poorly executed. We did not get anything out of that game that was positive. For us this is the worst weve played. We had nothing. It was a very empty game and we got very little production.” When asked if he got enough out of his top players, Noel said, “The whole body of work was not very good. Im not going to throw our best players under the bus. Thats not going to happen. Well look at it and try and figure out where we go from here.” The Jets do not play again until Saturday when the three-game home stand continues against Columbus (TSN 1290), with Phoenix here Monday (TSN Jets, TSN 1290). Saturday will be Evander Kanes 300th NHL game. The 22-year-old has 11 points in the last 12 games, including seven goals. ' ' '